South Korea's women's football team, chasing a first-ever Asian Games final berth, opened their campaign with a commanding 5-0 victory.
FIFA-ranked 19th, South Korea crushed No. 55 Myanmar 5-0 in their Group F opener at Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka on Monday, powered by a hat trick from versatile midfielder Kim Min-ji, born in 2003, at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Despite the win, South Korea sit second in the group on goal difference — trailing North Korea, who earlier demolished Bangladesh 10-0 to post a goal difference of plus-10 against South Korea's plus-5. Myanmar are third and Bangladesh fourth.
At this tournament, the top two finishers from each group — six teams in all — plus the two best third-place sides advance to the quarterfinal knockout stage to compete for medals.
Myanmar, coached by Colin Bell — who led the South Korean women's national team for four years and eight months through 2024 before being succeeded by Shin Sang-woo — came in with a disciplined defensive-and-counter strategy.
It was not enough to hold back South Korea's relentless pressure.
After pinning Myanmar deep in their own half, South Korea finally broke the deadlock in the 29th minute when Kim Min-ji found the net.
Kim used a deft body feint to wrong-foot a defender, created space for herself and drilled the ball into the bottom-left corner without hesitation.
Riding the momentum, Kim doubled her tally four minutes later. She met a cross from veteran Jang Seul-gi with a well-timed, high-contact header to make it 2-0.
Jang, having set up the second goal, then took matters into her own hands five minutes later.
Receiving a pass just outside the penalty area, Jang took one touch and threaded a low, fast shot into the bottom-right corner through a narrow gap between defenders to give South Korea their third goal.
South Korea carried that momentum into the second half, continuing to press Myanmar without let-up.
Veteran Choi Yu-ri won a penalty in the 48th minute but saw her spot kick strike the post. Kim Min-ji completed her hat trick in the 59th minute, however, finishing a cutback from Jang with perfect timing.
Having done her job, Kim was immediately substituted off for Kang Tae-gyeong to conserve energy.
In the 65th minute, Son Hwa-yeon was brought down by the Myanmar goalkeeper as she attempted a shot after rounding her, earning another penalty.
Ji So-yun stepped up to take it, but Myanmar's goalkeeper read the direction perfectly and made the save, denying South Korea the chance to extend their lead to five.
The wait for a fifth goal did not last long.
In the 76th minute, Choi Yu-ri calmly controlled a long ball played from deep and curled a precise shot past the goalkeeper to ripple the net.
It was a satisfying redemption goal — Choi making up for the penalty she had missed earlier in the half.
South Korea fired 20 shots — eight on target — while holding Myanmar to just one. They also dominated possession, controlling the ball 71 percent to 29 percent.
husn7@heraldcorp.com
